Needle holder



April 22, 1958 A. MESSINA NEEDLE HOLDER Filed May 31, 1956 ANTHONY MESSINA INVENTOR.

AGENT 2,831,572 NEEDLE HOLDER Anthony Messina, Mount Vernon, N. Y., assignor to Messina, Inc., Mount Vernon, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 31, 1956, Serial No. 588,427 Claims. 01. 206-66) My present invention relates to a device fOIfllOldll'lg and displaying sewing-machine needles, hand sewing needles or other elongated articles. I I An object of my invention is to provide a device of this character adapted to be used as a support for the needles or other articles within a preferably transparent container from which this support, together with the needles, may be readily removed if one or more needles are to be withdrawn by the user.

Another object of my invention is to provide a support or mount for needles or the like which can be shaped to fit a variety of boxes or casings and which will readily adapt itself to the contours thereof, whereby close production tolerances become unnecessary and the support can be mass-produced for use with commercially available containers from other sources.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device for attractively displaying a plurality of needles, of similar or different sizes or types, in such manner that each needle is fully visible from all sides as though suspended in air.

The conventional method of mounting and displaying sewing needles consists in passing them through a strip of paper, cloth or cardboard, with only their heads and their points visible. With such arrangement the needle ends rest against the supporting surface and are difiicult to grip with the fingers. Also, in the case of closely packed needles it is often not immediately apparent which head belongs to which point, so that the user may have to make several tries before getting hold of a needle of the particular length desired. My present invention aims at avoiding these inconveniencies.

In accordance with this invention I provide a support consisting of a resilient, preferably highly transparent sheet material, such as cellophane, and including a frame as well as a bridge member integral with and spanning said frame. The width of the bridge member is less than the length of the needles or other articles to be displayed, the bridge member being provided with perforations in transverse rows wherein these articles may be inserted for ready removal.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of my invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an open casing containing a needle mount according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the needle mount of Fig. 1, taken on the line 2-2 thereof;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of a modified form of needle mount according to my invention as seen through a closed but transparent container; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of another modified form of needle mount embodying the invention.

In Figs. 1 and 2 I have shown a casing 10 in the form of a plain rectangular box 11 having a cover 12 attached thereto by means of hinges 13; a friction lock 14a, 14b

enables the cover to be'pressed shut upon the box.

Lodged snugly within the box his a needle mount 20 of cellophane or similar resilient, transparent sheet material,

composed'of twolegs 21a, 21b which form a frame spanned by a bridge member 22. It will be noted that the legs 21a, 21b, which are a pair of strips lying in verticalplanes, extend over the full length of the box 11 whereas bridge member 22 covers only a fraction of the box area; this member is provided with perforations 23a,

23b forming several rows transverse to it, thus parallel to the legs 21a, 21b, for the insertion of a plurality of elongated articles to be displayed, such as sewing-machine needles 30. The length of the needles 30 is less than that of the frame members 21a, 21b but greaterthan the width of the cross piece-22, hence they may readily be gripped by the fingers and individually withdrawn without removal of the entire insert 2t} from the casing 10. The

insert 20 may, however, be easily taken out of the casing if desired, e. g. for purposes of reloading with needles or of transfer to another casing in the event of damage to the first one.

' The bridge 22 has been shown provided with depending beads 24 as best seen in Fig. 2. These beads are desirable as reinforcements, especially where a large number of relatively heavy needles are to be supported, but may be omitted in some cases.

The flexibility and resiliency of the legs 21a, 21b enables the insert 20 to be fitted into boxes of a shape other than that shown in Fig. 1; also, the frame of the insert may be conformed to casings of rounded, corrugated,

irregular, polygonal or any other configuration. This has.

be visible therein from all sides as clearly apparent from Fig. 3.

lnFig. 4 I have shown a modified form of insert 220 wherein the legs 221 (only one shown) are tapered at the center and the bridge piece 222 is inclined so that the point of a needle 30, traversing the holes 223a and 2231b thereof, is lower than its head. This further facilitates gripping of the needles and reduces the possibility of contact between the sharp needle points and the fingers of the user. An additional cross strip 225 extends between the frame legs 221 and forms a shield overlying the needle points, strip 225 lying adjacent the holes 223]) which are on a lower level than the holes 223a.

My invention is, of course, not limited to the specific embodiments described and illustrated but may be realized in various modifications and adaptations without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Also, limitations such as horizontal and vertical appearing in these claims are to be taken in a relative sense only, it being apparent that the position of the holder may be varied at will.

I claim:

1. In combination, a mount and a plurality of elongated articles carried thereon, said mount comprising a frame of resilient sheet material and a bridge piece of like material integral with and spanning said frame, said bridge piece having a pair of parallel transverse edges spaced apart by a distance less than said articles and being provided with apertures forming two transverse rows parallel to and spaced inwardly from said edges, said apertures being traversed by said articles, said frame projecting beyond said bridge piece in a direction perpendicular to said rows and having a dimension greater than the length of said articles in said direction, said bridge piece forming between said edges and said rows a pair of solid ledges supporting opposite extremitiesvof said articles, said extremities projecting beyond said ledges.

v2. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said material is highly transparent. I

3. The combination according to claim.2, wherein said material is cellophane.

4. The combination according to claim 1, further comprising a protective shield spanning said frame at a location spaced fromsaid bridge piece, said shield being so disaligned with respect to said bridge piece as to overlie an extremity of each article threaded through said apertures and supported on saidiledges.

-5. In combination, a holder and a plurality of elongatedarticles carried thereby, said holder comprising in combination a casing and an insert of resilent sheet material snugly fitting inside said casing, said insert including a frame and a bridge piece integral with and spanning said frame, said bridge piece extending over only a fraction of the area defined by said frame and being provided with parallel transverse edges and with two transverse rows of apertures inwardly spaced from said edges, said apertures being traversed by said articles, saidbridge piece; forming between said edges and said rows a pair of solid ledges supporting opposite extremities of said articles,saidextremities projecting beyond-said ledges.

6. The combination according to claim 5, wherein said casing is at least partly transparent.

7. The combination according to claim 6, wherein said casing comprises a box and a cover, at least said cover being transparent.

8. The combination according to claim 7, wherein said box has a transparent bottom.

9. The cor'nbinationaccording to claim 5,-wher, in said sheet material and at leastpart of; said casing aretransparent.

10. .T he combination according to claim 9, wherein said casing has transparentfront and back walls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

